Non-Marriage Reduces U.S. Labor Participation: The Abandonment of Marriage Puts America at Risk of a Depression

Henry Potrykus, Patrick Fagan

There has been a falling-off in employment and the technical capacity of the workforce, the factors of production that drop off during depressions.[1]

The long decline of adult male labor participation represents a with­drawal of able-bodied workers from productive employment.

A persistent ‘gap’ exists between the employment rates of married men and unmarried men. This ‘gap’, and the population shift towards states of non-marriage causally determines a large share of what is seen in Chart 1.

Given the cultural-demographic drift away from marriage the risk of depression will be exacerbated over time.

[1] This fact follows from the study of a dozen depressions in modern economies around the world.